Context : Herbig Ae stars ( HAe ) are the precursors of Vega-type systems and , therefore , crucial objects in planet formation studies .
Thus far , only a few disks associated with HAe stars have been studied using millimetre interferometers .

Aims : Our aim is to determine the dust evolution and the lifetime of the disks associated with Herbig Ae stars .

Methods : We imaged the continuum emission at \sim 3 mm and \sim 1.3 mm of the Herbig Ae/Be stars BD+61154 , RR Tau , VY Mon and LkH \alpha  198 using the Plateau de Bure Interferometer ( PdBI ) .
These stars are in the upper end of the stellar mass range of the Herbig Ae stars ( M _ { * } > 3Â M _ { \odot } ) .
Our measurements were used to complete the Spectral Energy Distribution ( SED ) .
The modelling of the SED , in particular the FIR-mm part , allow us to determine the masses and dust properties of these disks .

Results : We detected the disks associated with BD+61154 , RRÂ Tau and VYÂ Mon with disk masses of 0.35Â M _ { \odot } , 0.05Â M _ { \odot } and 0.40Â M _ { \odot } respectively .
The disk around LkH \alpha  198 was not detected with an upper limit to the disk mass of 0.004 M _ { \odot } .
We detected , however , the disks associated with the younger stellar objects LkH \alpha  198–IR and LkH \alpha  198–mm that are located in the vicinity of LkH \alpha  198 .
The fitting of the mm part of the SED reveal that the grains in the mid-plane of the disks around BD+61154 , RRÂ Tau and VYÂ Mon have sizes of \sim 1–1000Â \mu m. Therefore , grains have not grown to centimetre sizes in these disks yet .

Conclusions : These massive ( M _ { * } > 3Â M _ { \odot } ) and young ( \sim 1Â Myr ) HAe stars are surrounded by massive ( \gtrsim 0.04Â M _ { \odot } ) disks with grains of micron-millimetre sizes .
Although grain growth is proceeding in these disks , their evolutionary stage is prior to the formation of planetesimals .
These disks are less evolved than those detected around T Tauri and Herbig Be stars .